Taking Parents By The Hand
When it comes to bringing order to the home, images of Mary Poppins, Fraulein Maria and Nanny McPhee come to mind – women with bags of tricks, harmonious voices and magical powers. But Lonna Corder is the opposite – a stylish, vivacious 44-year-old with a sense of humor. She doesn’t have an umbrella to sweep families off their feet; if anything, her presence may help keep them firmly planted on the ground.
The founding director of the Playgroup, a Montessori preschool run inside Ann and Gordon Getty’s Pacific Heights manse, Corder has given practical lessons in child rearing to some of the city’s most privileged residents while teaching their children their ABCs. She recently decided to do something more to help a generation of grown-ups who seem to be scared to death of their young children: She started a consulting business to help bewildered mothers and fathers navigate their way through toilet training and temper tantrums.
Corder is no stranger to working with high-profile families. The swanky event to celebrate LIPP’s start was hosted by San Francisco Giant’s owner Peter Magowan’s wife, Debby, and her daughter Kristen Harper, whose children attend the Playgroup. It attracted a roster of A-list parents and supporters who could easily afford Corder’s $200 hourly rate. Many said her advice was invaluable in bringing peace and harmony to the home.
In San Francisco, Parents Place has offered child-rearing classes since 1975, and coaching sessions.
“Parents have gotten so serious about parenting that it’s almost like they are getting a degree in it,” said Lee Ann Slaton, parent education coordinator. “They’ve taken on more responsibility for their children – for everything in their little lives.”
Such doting, Corder said, can result in the kinds of behavior she is often asked to correct.
Maddened by parents confusing their children with directives followed by questions, “Pick up your toys, OK?” and those making empty threats, “One more time or …” Corder, takes a pragmatic approach, having been “in the trenches” with her only child, son Chili, now 14.
“I understand that being a parent is like Space Mountain,” she said. “You’re on a roller coaster and you can’t see the track and you’re not convinced it’s going to end. But, if you stick with it, you do get through it.”
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